Faculty divided over merits of new schedule proposal

As the Syracuse University Senate’s decision on the new course scheduling paradigm draws near, those on the academic frontline who would have to adjust to the changes remain divided over the schedule’s merits.

Certain departments have more reservations about the new schedule than others.

Leslie Noble, who handles the scheduling for the drama department in the College of Visual and Performing Arts, fears that the department will run into considerable obstacles if the paradigm is passed.

The department holds the bulk of its recruitment auditions on Friday mornings because the long weekend accommodates the schedules of the parents of prospective students. With the new paradigm, auditions could no longer be held on Fridays or Wednesdays afternoons during the campus community time because faculty meetings are held then, Noble said.

Another concern regards the department’s employment of adjunct faculty members, who teach at other area colleges which operate on the traditional scheduling system. If SU converts to the new paradigm, these professors will have a difficult time balancing their teaching obligations at different institutions, Noble said.



Carol Lipson, department chairwoman of the writing program in The College of Arts and Sciences, believes that a similar fate may befall the writing department if adjunct faculty has difficulty with the new schedule.

‘This would create horrific schedules for them and it would not generate the best teaching. We’d be the school that loses people,’ Lipson said.

Both Lipson and Noble attended some of the forums on the new plan and departed feeling disenchanted. They felt that the plan’s creators had already reached a decision without the input of other faculty members. The faculty conducting the forum did not listen to criticism leveled against the plan, Lipson said.

‘They have used it as a venue for arguing a good idea that was already in place,’ Lipson said. She added that the attendees ‘did not feel listened to carefully because the people leading the forum seemed to have already made up their minds.’

Lipson recognizes that the bunching of classes in the middle of the day is a problem, and feels that the enforcement of the current schedule may help solve it. She considers the paradigm unrealistic and does not foresee the Senate passing it.

‘I would be surprised if it receives a positive vote,’ Lipson said. ‘The people I’ve talked to in Arts and Sciences have negative feelings.’

Physics professor Carl Rosenzweig also said the discussion among some faculty has been skeptical of the proposal.

The physics department has filed a statement with the Senate outlining what it feels to be problem areas in the new plan, including the difficulty of setting up research collaborations with faculty at schools operating on traditional schedules, Rosenzweig said. Also, labs currently scheduled for two one-hour blocks would take up two one-and-a-half hours blocks on the new paradigm, consequently tying up classrooms while leaving others empty, Rosenzweig said.

While the new schedule might not meet the needs of the physics department, Rosenzweig felt that it was shaped largely around the demands of schools such as the S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and the Martin J. Whitman School of Management, which had difficulty fitting their schedules into the current paradigm.

Ernest Hemphill, a biology professor and one of the plan’s creators, said powerful colleges which have taken the time to examine the proposed schedule have come to embrace it and could help sway the final decision.

‘Schools who have studied it have considerable influence and are likely to carry weight,’ Hemphill said. ‘At the moment, the deans are either enthusiastically embracing it or have come to the conclusion that they can live with the new schedule. The majority of the faculty are either in favor or indifferent.’

Hemphill said he has gotten the impression that the students and faculty members opposed to the paradigm are either resistant to change, do not want to have classes on Fridays or haven’t considered alternatives, including the problems that might ensue if the current schedule is enforced. If the schedule is implemented and colleges and departments continue to oppose the changes and ask for exemptions to schedule classes outside the time blocks, they will be required to meet rigorous standards. They would have to clearly outline why they need an exemption and also persuade Vice Chancellor Deborah Freund, said Hemphill

Even the paradigm’s most vocal critics recognize the good intentions of the plan’s creators and supporters. While Noble remains concerned about the fate of the drama department, she understands the reasoning behind the proposal.

‘I think that they generally wanted to solve the problem of classes overlapping and make Friday a serious work day. All of these ideas are legitimate,’ Noble said.





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